In a surprising move, the New York Mets have hired Cleveland Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway to be their new manager succeeding Terry Collins who resigned at the end of the season after seven years at the helm of the team. Callaway, 42, has apparently agreed to a three year deal with the club.
Callaway had been the Tribe's pitching coach since 2013 and had been with the organization since 2010 follow his retirement as a player. He spent parts of five seasons pitching with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Anaheim Angels and the Texas Rangers before pitching in South Korea and in China.
Mets hitting coach Kevin Long had been favored to succeed Collins. Now it is unclear if he will remain with the organization. The jury is very much out on Callaway at this point. Despite his success in turning Corey Kluber into a Cy Young winner it remains to be seen if the Mets pitching staff of Jacob de Grom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Matt Harvey will accept Callaway much less the rest of the team.
Callaway can go a long way with the team and its fans if he fixes Harvey who posted a 6.70 ERA in 2017 and is 9-17 since the Mets won the NL pennant in 2015. But this is a very big if.
Then again the NL East is a very big if right now. Both the first place Washington Nationals and the last place Philadelphia Phillies are also looking for new managers. The Phillies sent Pete Mackanin upstairs while the Nats waited for Dusty Baker to go back to California so they could call and tell him his contract wasn't being renewed over the phone. At least Collins got to resign of his own accord to accept another position within the organization. It remains to be seen if Callaway will leave the Mets on the same terms.
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